My big Matrix moment

A few years ago, and by a few years ago I really mean along time ago, but not in galaxy far far away. Let me start again. I attended the Baptist Theological college of Southern Africa (BTC) between 1994 and 1997, but I’m okay now! Seriously I studied at this esteemed place of spiritual learning in Randburg, South Africa. It’s a great place. The course is great, the lecturers were amazing and I learn some really great and sometimes tough lifelong lessons there. In all I would say I am a better person and closer to God for having studied at BTC.
Today I was taking a walk, listening to some music and thinking about old times, when I remembered an event that took place while at BTC that has taught me many lessons about life. I thought I would share it.

It was warm sunny Randburg morning. Our class happened to have a few free lectures. I believe it was because a lecturer was sick or something like that. The fact is we had the time to ourselves. Most of my classmates decided to do the mature thing and “hit the books.” Assignment deadlines were looming and it made good sense to to use the time productively. But that’s not what I did. My friend, Ed and I decided to head over to the Randburg Mall to have some coffee and a chat. The mall is about a 7min walk from BTC. So took the walk. We were enjoying the nice day and the chat as we approached a wide and busy road. As we approached I looked to my left and didn’t bother to look to my right because in a bizarre moment of real stupidity and ditziness I decided that this road, a road I had cross numerous times before, was a One Way road! I did not therefore expect a black Golf GTI with a driver who was wearing groovy Rayband’s to be coming at me from the right. So, looking left I looked and saw there was a gap to run across so I stepped in the road . . .

All I can say is that in that moment time slowed down, like it does in the Matrix, the only problem was that I did not have the skill of Keanu Reeves to avoid my inevitable fate. In the 1 or 2 seconds that it followed I took in all the information I needed to know. I heard the hooting. I noticed the colour and make of the car. I even had a quick envious though about the car. I noticed that the driver was male with short dark hair, that he was well dress and was wearing really trendy sunglasses. I also processed the consequences of my actions and remember thinking “Oh c . . . . . “ You get the picture. All in 1 or 2 seconds tops!
Next thing I remember was hitting the floor, my head bashing into the curb and my friend Ed shouting something like, “Phil! Phil!! Are you okay?!” I bounced up onto my feet in a state of shock and remember having a short conversation with the driver in which I apologized profusely for my act of random stupidity.

The fact is I came off easy. The car thankful had just pulled away for the traffic lights and so it wasn’t traveling fast yet (it was a Gold GTI, those drivers never stick to speed limits.) I didn’t damage the car and apart from having a huge bruise on my hip and very large headache, I was okay to drive home and see my doctor.

As I thought about that today it became clear to me that I learned some big lessons from that incident:

1. Always look left and right and left again. Never assume anything! This is something I have put into practice and sometimes I feel like an old man crossing roads. It helps too in real life though. Never assume anything and it never hurts to have another look or take some more time to think about a big decision.

2. Make sure that you are where you should be in the first place. We should have been at college working. That’s the harsh reality of it. Even though we would have had a very good and productive chat in terms of our friendship, our place was in the college library (sorry Ed). Life is about making sure you are in the right place. The place God wants you be in. And its not always geographical. A Place can be your relationship with God, or people or things. Be in the right place.

3. Our minds are amazing things. If I could process all that information in such a short moment, imagine how much more I could do if I “put my mind to it.” So often we limit and restrict ourselves but God has made us capable for amazing things. How we use that capability is what counts.

4. Good friends are important. They laugh with you and at you but in the end they are the ones who help you up and make sure you get to where you need to be.

What's your favourite scary movie??

I am a sucker for scary movies. I have to be honest about that. I love the rush you feel when and after watching a scary movie. Not that I watch them very often. Having a toddler in your life means you don't really get to do what you want to do a lot of the time. If I'm not pretending to be the voice of Cinderella, then I am playing with plastersine or watching the
latest Disney movie or Dora the Explorer. Forget about a scary movie, I have a hard time keeping up with world news!!
Back to scary movies though. I recently found a gem of a scary movie. It's called The Hole and was directed by the guy who gave us the classic movie Gremlins. It's not the scariest movie in the world, although it does have the creepy moments and scares. Judging from how the discipleship group at my church called The Core reacted when watching it, it probably is a bit scarier and funnier than I thought but how I was I to know!?! Yes you did read that right. I did inflict a scary movie on a group of unsuspecting young people. Why you say? Because I am sick . . . No because this movie actually spoke to me.
You see I believe that truth can be found anywhere and that God can and does speak more often then we think and sometimes its in the most usual places.
So what did God say to me in The Hole? Well, I don't want to ruin it for you in case this inspires you to watch it but the basic message of the film is that we all have fears in our lives and that we tend to build them up into these huge overwhelming things that suffocate us and stop us from moving forward. The main characters in the movie have to face their fears in order to survive (there is this great scene with a clown puppet. Movie making genius) and move forward in their lives.
It made me examine my own fears, past and present. How much control over my life do I give to them? Am I running from them? How do I face up to them? The answer to the last question is, with God's help and in my experience that tends to me he uses other people to support.
So what is your greatest fear and are you facing up to it?

The Vultures are circling

It's not often that I feel able to think at 10:15pm but as I am on holiday and pretty much spent the day playing playstation, my brain is more active than usual at this time of night.
Anyway, so I have been playing this game called, "Red Dead Redemption." It is so big that you can get lost in it but my thought today hasn't been of how often we can create our own little world that we lock ourselves into and get lost in, no, my thought has been about vultures.
The vultures circle whenever someone is in trouble or has been shot in the game. You see vultures and you know that your path is about to become a bit more complicated and bit more "troublesome".
Mmmmmmm . . . ever notice how that happens in real life? I don't write this out of current experience but I have experienced it often. Just when you think you might be comfortable, or have something figured out or have made a big decision, the vultures circle and complicate it.
In the game its not always a bad thing, it usually means progress possible (that's if the vultures are not circling around your corpse). It might mean that but it is never nice or comfortable to have to deal with in real life. I guess that's the problem with life . . . it's messy and complicated and fuzzy. At the same time that's what makes it worth it.

Jesus said, "Do you finally believe? In fact, you're about to make a run for it—saving your own skins and abandoning me. But I'm not abandoned. The Father is with me. I've told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I've conquered the world." John 16

Vitamin String Quartet

I've been listening to the Vitamin String Quartet on Spotify this week. Yeah, I know, you are familiar with who they are! Well if you have fallen off the end of the world and have no idea who this fantastic string quartet are, let me explain. VSQ as they are known are a very talented string quartet whose main purpose in life is to rearrange modern pop, rock, metal and alternative music into really great string quartet type music. So for instance you can listen to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica or "Thriller" by Michael Jackson or "Mood Rings" by Relient K, and the list goes on. I reckon they churn out about a zillion albums a year judging from the pain in my right hand from all the scrolling down I had to do in Spotify. The thing is they are very good. The arrangements are well thought out, fun and nice to listen to. Good background sort of stuff. But I have been left wanting more if I am honest. I found myself wanting to listen to James Hetfield singing, and actually at some point I swapped to the REAL thing. I gave up on the "reworked" imitation because the real thing is far more inspiring and impacting on my life.
I know what you're thinking and yes its only music but it made me wonder about how often we settle in our lives for a "reworked" image of someone else's inspiration and creativity? How often are our desires, values, aspirations and actions simply are reaction to what we have seen in someone else's life? How often are our lives simply a re-imagining of what someone else has done or said?
I know why we do it. It because it's easier. The other way is much more work. It is much easier live in Mark Driscoll's thoughts and opinions on faith (by the way I love Mark Driscoll in case you think I am slamming him) than to actually experience what God has to say to me in his Word. And it isn't just about faith stuff, it applies to all of life.
It's a challenging thought. It seems to me those that make the most impact in their world are the one's who don't settle for someone else's life or someone else's thoughts on things.

"No one's ever seen or heard anything like this,
Never so much as imagined anything quite like it—
What God has arranged for those who love him."
1 Cor 2:9

Burnsdown Day #10

Today is Burnsdown Day. My own personal holiday. Not that I ever get to take it off but still it's my day! On 7 Feb I remember one of the most significant events in my life, the day my flat burned down. Depressing right? Not really. You see for me Burnsdown Day is a marker that set a lot of God's plans in my life into motion. Most importantly it is marks the beginning of my relationship with my beautiful wife, Monique. You see when I was homeless, I was taken in by Monique's family and our friendship grew from there. It's not often that someone is thankful for a personal disaster, and believe me I wasn't at the time, but looking back 10 years I am so thankful for that night and would not change it for the world.
So today is the tenth Burnsdown Day. The tradition I keep on Burnsdown Day is to replace one of the CD's that I lost in the fire. It's become a difficult task 10 years down the road, mainly because I have forgotten so many and also because so many of them are not in "print."
So what to do . . . As it's 10 years I think that means I can change the rules a bit. So iTunes is fair game and perhaps I will start to look forward slightly and get something that I have always wanted but have never gotten around to getting.
I guess what I am trying to say is that I think its important in life to look back and see what God has done but there comes a time to use what you have experienced and learned and move forward or in a new direction.

"I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back."
Philippians 3:12 - 14

Noisetrade

I have this week been discovering the joys of an awesome website called Noisetrade. It is a site where you can download free music. Yes I said free music. Yes you can "tip" the artists but ultimately if you don't want to then you are still able to download the entire album. The only thing they ask for is a trade. You have to give them your email address!
The site is all about giving "indie" artists exposure so they are happy for you to have their music and hope that you will tell others about it using Facebook etc.
Its a great idea!
The downside, if any, is wading through the heaps of music to find stuff that you like but there is certainly something for everyone.

What I learned from writing Switchfoot off.

About 4 years ago I wrote Switchfoot off. Let me back up a little for those who don't have a clue what I am talking about. Switchfoot is a band. A very good band actually. Anyway, I wrote them off. Up until then, you see I had tried desperately hard to like them. I had a number of their CD's and really liked one or two songs on each but for some reason I just didn't "get" them. And so I wrote them off and decided to never buy another Switchfoot album again. I'm not sure this was an actual decision that I make consciously but I did make it because somewhere deep inside when their new CD at the time came out I didn't even bother listening and it came and went without me giving it a chance.
Just over 2 years ago now they released, "Hello Hurricane" and I stumbled across the first single by accident. I absolutely love it! In fact I would even say that it is in my all time top ten songs! This made me rethink my decision and I bought 'Hello Hurricane", saw them in concert and I guess I am now a groupie. I am even enjoying their older stuff. It seemed so easy to write the off and give up on them, only to be proved wrong along.

Makes me think how often I do that with people. How often do we "write people off" by labelling them, thinking that they will never change or will always be the same. How often do we miss out on what people have to offer all because we have simply put them in a little box of our making that does not allow us to benefit from who they really are? The fact is that it is probably us who miss out and not them!

I am excited for the new material that Switchfoot are currently recording and that challenges me.